Chapter 3 Morphology

Chapter 3 Morphology1. What is word?Definition: A unit of expression that has universal intuitive recognition by native speakers, whether it is expressed in spoken or written form.A vague definition: Three senses are involved in defining “word”, none of which is satisfactory to cope with all the situations.1.1 Identification of wordsStability: stable linguistic units.chairman, but not *manchairRelative uninterruptibility: though we recognize three components in the word disappointment, we cannot pause and add another component in between, as in *disinterestappointment.But we can add another word between words: Paul, (John) and Mary…A minimum free form: the smallest unit that can constitute a complete utterance by itself.Sentence---the maximum free formWord---the minimum free form, the smallest unit that can constitute, by itself, a complete utterancee.g. --Is Jane coming tonight?--Possibly.Hi.Wonderful.词的特征词是由词素构成，比词素高一级的句法单位。

词具有以下特征：一词具有固定的语音形式。

二词具有一定的意义。

词可以分属实义语类和功能语类。

实义语类主要表示词汇意义，包括名词，动词，形容词，副词和介词。

功能语类主要表示语法意义，起连接或附着作用，包括限定词，助动词，代词，标句词和连词。

三词是能够独立运用的最小的语言单位。

2 Classification of words2.1 Variable and invariable wordsVariable words: One could find ordered and regular series of grammatically different word forms; on the other hand, part of the word remains constant follow, follows, following, followed; mat,matsInvariable words: those words such as since, when, seldom, through, hello. They do not have inflective endings.2.2 Grammatical words and lexical wordsGrammatical words: express grammatical meanings, such as conjunctions, prepositions, articles, pronounsLexical words: have lexical meanings, those which refer to substance, action and quality, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. The lexical words carry the main content of a language (content words) and the grammatical words serve to link the different parts of a sentence together (function words).2.3Closed-class words and open-class words:Closed-class: a word whose membership is fixed or limited. New members are not regularly added. Pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, articles, etc.Open-class: A word whose membership is in principle infinite or unlimited. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbsNote: The distinction is not quite as clear-cut as it seems. Prepositions: regarding, throughout, out of, according to, withregard to, in spite of, be means of2.4 Word class:It is close to the notion of Parts of Speech in traditional grammar. Eight or nine word classes are established: noun, pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection, article.3 The formation of word3.1 Morpheme(语素) and morphology(形态学)Chairman: chair, manBoys: boy, -sChecking: check, -ingDisappointment: dis-, appoint, -mentThe components of a word are known as morphemes. They themselves cannot be further analyzed.Morphology studies the internal structure of words, and the rules by which words are formed.Morpheme: the smallest unit of language in terms of relationshipbetween expression and content, a unit that cannot be divided into further smaller units without destroying or drastically altering the meaning, whether it is lexical or grammatical.The most basic element of meaning is traditionally called morpheme.3.2 Types of morphemes3.2.1 Free morpheme and bound morpheme (In terms of their capacity of occurring alone)Free morphemes(自由语素): t hose which may occur alone, i.e. those which may constitute words by themselves E.g. dog, nation, close. All monomorphemic words are free morphemes.Bound morphemes(黏着语素): those which cannot occur alone dis-, -ed, -ful3.2.2 Root, affix and stemA root(词根) is the base form of a word that cannot further be analyzed without total loss of identity.e.g. Internationalism . All words contain a root morpheme.A root may be free or bound, but an affix is naturally bound.All words contain a root morpheme.An affix(词缀) is the collective term for the type of formative thatcan be used only when added to another morpheme (the root or stem). Affixes are limited in number in a language, and are generally classified into three subtypes, prefix(前缀), suffix(后缀), and infix(中缀).Prefix: para-, mini- un-Suffix: -ise, -tionInfix: foot/ feet, goose/geeseA stem(词干) is any morpheme or combination of morphemes to which an inflectional affix(屈折词缀) can be added.E.g. Friend- in friends, and friendship- in friendships3.2.3 Inflectional affix and derivational affixInflectional morpheme(屈折词缀): a kind of bound morphemes which manifest various grammatical relations or grammatical categories such as number, tense, degree and case.E.g. workers, children; walking, walked; biggest ; John’s Derivational morpheme(派生词缀): a kind of bound morphemes , added to existing forms to create new words. There are three kinds according to position: prefix, suffix and infix. prefix: change meaning dis-; un-; mis-suffix: change part of speech -ly; -ness; -tioninfix: some languages also have infixes, affix morphemes that areinserted into root or stem morphemes to divide them into two parts.Differences between inflection and derivation1.When a derivational morpheme is conjoined to other morphemes (or words) a new word is derived, or formed. Other derivational morphemes do not change grammatical class.e.g. un-, dis-, in-, im-, -ly, -ment, -or, -er, -ist2.When a inflectional morpheme is attached to words or morphemes, they never change their syntactic category, signifying such concepts as tense, number, case and so on.e.g. –s, -ing, ed, -er, -est, -’s3.Inflectional affixes are conditioned by non-semantic linguistic factors outside the word they attach to but within the phrase or sentence.e.g. The boy likes to read novels.4.Derivational affixes are more often based on simple meaning distinctions.e.g. clever, cleverness5.Inflectional affixes are mostly suffixes, which are always word final(drums, walks, Mary’s ).But derivational affixes can be prefixes (depart, online) or suffixes (teacher, workable)InflectionNominal forms: boys, boy’sVerb forms: wants, wanted, wantingAdjective/adverb forms: smaller, smallestDerivationClass-preserving:N--N: nonsmoker, ex-wife, bookletV--V: disobey, unfastenA--A: grayish, irrelevantClass-changing:N--V: lengthen, hospitalize, discardN--A: friendly, delightful, speechlessV--N: worker, employee, inhabitantV--A: acceptable, adorableA--N: rapidness, rapidityA--V: deafen, sweetenAdj--Adv: exactly, quickly3.3Morphological rules of word formation(构词法的形态学规则)Word formation: the process of word variations signaling lexical relationshipsMorphological rules(能产性形态学规则):the way words are formed are called morphological rules. These rules determine how morphemes combine to form words.Some of the morphological rules can be used quite freely to form new words. We call them productive morphological rulese.g.unacceptable;unthinkable;untouchable;unwarrantable;unimpeachable; uninhabitableSo we can conclude two rules:1.un- ＋adjective = not–adjective2.verb ＋-able = adjectiveThe first rule holds good for the words above, though we notice the following exceptions:sad --- *unsadbrave --- *unbraveIt might be presumed that the “un-Rule”is not as productive for adjectives composed of just one morpheme as for adjectives that are themselves derived form verbs. The rule seems to be freely applicable to an adjectival form derived from a verb, as in Undecided;unchecked;unabridged;undeclared;3.4 CompoundsAnother way to form new words, or compound words, to be more exact, is by stringing words together.Compound: A word that consists of more than one lexical morpheme or the way to join two separate words to produce a single form.Noun compounds: daybreak, playboy, haircut,Verb compounds: brainstorm, lip-read, babysitAdjective compounds: gray-haired, insect-eating,Preposition compounds: into, throughoutWays of writing a compound:(1)Compounds can be written as a single word: e.g. wardrobe, bodyguard, seashore.(2) They can also be joined with a hyphen:e.g. wedding-ring, traffic-light, simple-minded.(3) Some can be written with ordinary spaces between the two parts:e.g. washing machine, traffic island, counter，revolutionary.When we form compounds, the following points are noteworthy:(1) When the two words are in the same grammatical category, the compound will be in this category:noun + noun : post box; landladyadjective + adjective: blue-black; icy-cold(2) In many cases, the two words fall into different categories. Then the class of the second or final word will be the grammatical category of the compound:noun + adjective: head-strongverb + noun: pickpocketThis, however, is not always true, and compounds with a preposition are in the category of the nonprepositonal part of the compound, as inundertake, inaction, uplift(3)It is often the case that compounds have different stress patterns from the noncompound word sequence, e.g.NP: red coat ; green housecompound: redcoat; greenhouse(4)The meaning of a compound is not always the sum of the meanings of its parts.e.g. Kate found a red coat in her aunt’s closet.Kate found a Redcoat in her aunt’s closet.While the meaning of each compound includes at least to some extent the meanings of individual parts.Compounding is then a very common and frequent process for enlarging the vocabulary of the English language.The key of Exercises1.a .micro + film b. e + draggle + edc . announce + ment d. pre + digest + ione. tele + communicate + ionf. fore + fatherg.psycho + physics h. mechan + ist2 .(1) suffix: -ablemeaning: something can be done or is possiblestem type: added to verbsexamples: acceptable, “can be accepted”respectable, “can be respected”(2) suffix: -lymeaning: functionalstem type: added to adjectivesexamples: freely, “adverbial form of free”quickly, “adverbial form of quick”(3) suffix: -eemeaning: the person receiving the actionstem type: added to verbsexamples: employee, “one who works in a company”interviewee,“one who is interviewed”3. (1) prefix: dis-meaning: showing an oppositestem type: added to verbs or nounsexamples: disapprove, “do not approve”dishonesty, “lack of honesty”(2) prefix: anti-meaning: against, opposed tostem type: added to nouns or adjectivesexamples: antinuclear, “opposing the use of atomic weapons and power”antisocial, “opposed or harmful to the laws and customs of an organized community”(3) prefix: counter-meaning: the opposite ofstem type: added to nouns or adjectivesexamples: counterproductive, “producing results opposite to those intended”counteract, “act against and reduce the force or effect of (sth.)”。